Choose Portuguese immigration and listen to Portuguese stories: if you want to experience the hotel culture of an ancient nation during your travels, Portugal will certainly satisfy you. At the beginning of a trip, visiting hotels is often considered a dull affair, but over time, one discovers that there is great depth to these establishments, which also carry significant cultural traditions. A set of bed curtains or a single tree at a hotel may each have its own origin and story.
These hotels are cultural relics
The Convento do Espinheiro Hotel in Évora was built in 1458 and was originally a council chamber. The hotel features a beautiful church, and guests from near and far love to come here to hold weddings.
Mary, the hotel's director, says that this Starwood property is a veritable cultural relic, and its interior decoration was carried out in a way that replicates historical artifacts. When it was originally converted into a hotel, the renovation was conducted according to methods used for restoring cultural relics, a process that took two and a half years. Even now, the hotel closes for one week during the off-season each year specifically for building maintenance and minor repairs.
A small boutique hotel in Porto, named after Prince Henry the Navigator, was a tobacco factory before becoming a hotel in 1940. The current owner is keen on collecting various antiques, so the bed curtains and furniture in the hotel's presidential suite are of great value. Many members of royal families and political dignitaries choose to stay here when visiting Porto.
The Palácio das Cardosas hotel, located in the center of Porto's old town, enjoys an excellent location and exquisite interior decoration. This InterContinental hotel began renovations in 2003 and took over seven years to complete, nearly five years behind the original schedule, because many cultural relics were discovered during the renovation process.
"This place used to be a monastery and was a bank before 2000. Although its purpose has changed, the exterior walls of this building have remained the same since the 18th century because it is a cultural relic," says hotel manager Andre. A major feature of the hotel is that every executive room offers a view of the center of Porto's old town. To make the interior of the hotel richer in local character, photographs of Porto's scenery and other artworks are hung throughout the hotel's corridors.
Libraries in hotels
A good library is definitely the best reason to keep guests staying. The library at the Quinta das Lágrimas Palace hotel is not only cleverly designed but also houses many old magazines. There are copies of the Parisian magazine "Match" from 1951 to 1974, with one issue spread out on the table, and a dark velvet rocking chair already set up nearby—what are you waiting for?
Due to its former status as a council chamber, the Convento do Espinheiro Hotel houses a significant collection of books on law. To match the centuries-old history, the owner has also placed many high-quality replicas of cultural relics in the library. Surprisingly, there are even books in Chinese on the shelves.
Despite being such interesting hotels, the prices are quite affordable. For hotels like Convento do Espinheiro, Palácio das Cardosas, and Quinta das Lágrimas Palace, room rates are around 100 euros, with slight adjustments based on the season. However, these well-known hotels are not widely known to Chinese guests. Mary from the Convento do Espinheiro Hotel says she has only hosted about 20 Chinese guests in total, and the hotel, which is often fully booked, mainly receives guests from Brazil, France, Spain, and the United States.
Love hotels
A memorial to the love between a prince and his mistress
Hotel Name: Quinta das Lágrimas Palace Hotel Location: Coimbra
In the 14th century, the Portuguese Prince Pedro (later King Pedro I) and his lady-in-waiting Inês once spent happy times together here, until the prince's father ordered Inês to be executed. After the prince ascended the throne, he still proclaimed his deceased lover as Queen; legend has it that he personally crowned Inês as Queen and ordered his ministers to kiss her cold, stiff hand. For 650 years, poets, directors, playwrights, and singers across Europe have recounted this tragic love story in different artistic forms in Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian.
In the main corridor of the hotel, various portraits of Inês are hung, along with various comic strips, stills, and even a Japanese opera poster.
The hotel's garden contains 52 different tree species, including those from India and China. What couples love most is the bamboo forest by the garden stream: drink a few sips of the stream water, which symbolizes "eternal love," and carve vows into the bamboo. Hotel manager Pedro explains that legend has it the prince used to place love letters into this stream, which would flow from the back garden to the front hotel and church.
Behind the hill is the fountain where Inês was executed. At the bottom of this fountain, which no longer flows, are several large, reddish stones. Some say the red color is Inês's blood, but in fact, it is just a special type of red algae attached to the stones.